Just Add Stock joint winner, Music

Not just content with winning Just Add Stock’s Identity category, Matt Maitland also came in as joint winner in our music category, for his strong work on this cover for the Basement Jaxx release Raindrops.

Maitland’s instantly recognisable style and refreshing use of stock received a well deserved positive reaction from our judges. The music category had many impressive entries, and the differences between our joint winners can only hint at the wide range of approaches to stock use we saw.

Big Active and Basement Jaxx had previously worked together on their 2001 album Rooty, and following the success of this partnership all involved were eager to work together again. The process began with Maitland meeting with the group earlier this year, to listen to the new material, and decide on which direction the design should go in, the group were instantly interested in some ‘collage warriors’ Maitland said he had been working on. The finished album artwork features five of these warriors.

As we have seen in Maitland’s other winning entry, stock use is a big aspect of his design process, however his use of this stock is anything but standard. Maitland views the stock images as a base for his work, with the images only playing a role in creating the ‘bigger picture’ when mixed with the other elements of his work. Commenting on his regular stock use Maitland says ‘I would argue that while my images often use stock imagery, the power is in the overall image not its constituent parts.’